Queercents

My partner and I went to Gay Days at Disney World in Orlando for the first time in June of this year. You may have read stories in the press about the economic impact of this yearly event, but it’s not news to the people who work there. We took cab rides on several occasions, and I think every single cab driver mentioned how they were working all weekend because it’s their best weekend of the year. Hotels all over the area host parties and events for the occasion. An event that used to draw criticism and controversy, including boycotts by religious groups and signs at park entrances warning patrons of large numbers of gays and lesbians, has given way to businesses tripping over each other to welcome and provide products and services to those same people. This is commercialism in action.

Sodomy was illegal in Texas until the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the law 4 years ago, but you wouldn’t know that from looking at the official web site of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau. Just click on Diverse Dallas on the right-hand side, and up comes a page with 4 links - Asian, African-American, Hispanic, and GLBT (complete with a picture of two handsome men raising their glasses together). The site helpfully provides a list of TAG-Approved hotels and other resources for GLBT visitors to Dallas. The Bureau isn’t providing this information as some selfless act of charity or the because of some new enlightened legislation - it’s because local businesses want your money and the city wants the taxes. Commercialism pushes them to be inclusive and welcoming in order to sell their products. Read the rest of this entry »

The Federal Reserve has been getting a lot of attention in the last few months. With the recent housing meltdown and market volatility, it’s hard to miss the articles in the financial press. Some have blamed the Fed for causing the housing bubble, and others have argued that the Fed should take action to provide some relief. Meanwhile, one of the 2008 presidential candidates, Dr. Ron Paul, has long argued for abolishing the Federal Reserve and returning to a gold standard of the kind used around the turn of the century (as opposed to the Bretton Woods system which was in place from 1946-1971). Would that really restore financial stability to the economy? Volumes have been written on this subject, but I will try to at least summarize my own views without reciting every monetary theory in existence. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to how I want to propose to my partner. Do I want to do something simple and romantic? Something dramatic and public? It’s not something I ever really thought I’d need to consider, but lately I’ve been searching around on the web to see what other gay couples are doing. As more and more same-sex couples have weddings or commitment ceremonies, it is tempting to adopt much of the ritual that heterosexual couples have long used, but there is one part of that ritual that will not be making it into any of my own plans - diamonds as a symbol of love.

The demand for diamonds is the result of what has probably been the most successful marketing campaign in history. De Beers has controlled the majority of the world’s diamond supply since about 1880. As people became aware that diamonds were really as common as cheaper gems, demand fell through the 1920’s, 1930’s, and the Great Depression. Then, in 1947, De Beers launched their “Diamonds Are Forever” campaign. Ultimately, De Beers marketing was shockingly effective at convincing people that diamonds were the proper way to express love. They also managed to convince families to hold onto their diamonds as heirlooms, keeping used diamonds off the market. Hollywood helped out by enshrining the idea in films such as the hit musical “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, which included the now-classic number “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”. You can’t buy advertising that good. As demand rose and De Beers purposely restricted supply, diamonds commanded a premium, all because of good marketing. The recent movement against blood diamonds has helped by further restricting supply. Read the rest of this entry »

Any finance professional will tell you that if you want to grow your wealth, your asset allocation needs to include stocks. The reason is simple - stocks have the highest potential return. In the many articles on how to invest for your retirement, a common recommendation is to get stock market exposure through a low-cost index fund. There are good reasons for that, but buying actively managed funds or individual stocks are also valid approaches, with different benefits and drawbacks. I want to discuss some of those here. I’m not a financial advisor, but this is my take based on what I’ve read and my own investing experience.

Before we get into that, I should point out that we’re only talking about the stock portion of a portfolio here. The concept of asset allocation - how much to invest in stocks versus bonds versus anything else - is a topic for another article. Similarly, I’m ignoring targeted maturity funds, since they take care of asset allocation for you. I’m also ignoring exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which can be a good alternative to index funds. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, I wrote about why investing knowledge should be a part of everyone’s basic education for purely practical reasons. But there’s another benefit to being an investor - how it teaches you about the world.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. In his article “The United States of Toyota”, Peter M. De Lorenzo writes, “But after all is said and done, there is one simple reason why Toyota never has been and never will be an ‘American’ car company. Well, 13.2 billion reasons, actually. Toyota earned a $13.2 billion profit in 2006. And where, exactly, did those profits go? It seems there’s one very big thing that isn’t American about Toyota, and that is where those profits go at the end of the day.” Read the rest of this entry »

Marc explained some mutual fund basics yesterday in “Why A Mutual Fund Makes More Cents”. It’s a good introduction to the topic. But the necessity of the article highlights a problem that often frustrates me - the general lack of knowledge about investing.

Unless you make loads of money, you absolutely have to invest if you ever want to retire. OK, so there are a few exceptions to this. If you have a traditional pension, or you’re planning on severely cutting back expenses, or you have some reason to believe Social Security will still be there for you, maybe you can get by without investing your savings. But for most workers today, investing is not optional - it’s required if you want to have some semblance of a secure retirement. Read the rest of this entry »

If you read any personal finance blog, you will eventually come across a post recommending you save money by switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescents (CFLs). It’s a no-brainer - CFLs use only about 25% of the energy of incandescent bulbs, and they last longer, so you end up saving money despite the higher up-front cost. The lower energy consumption also means that less greenhouse gases are produced to provide the same amount of light. Even so, not everyone is choosing CFLs over incandescents. In the US, CFL market share is a mere 6%.

Consumer reluctance to switch to CFLs has resulted in government action in some countries. Australia and Canada have instituted bans on incandescent bulbs that will take effect in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Many other countries are contemplating similar measures, and various organizations are lobbying for them. But there’s a cultural cost included in these kinds of laws. Read the rest of this entry »

My partner and I recently decided to start saving to build a new home in 10 years or so. I’ve been saving for my retirement via a 401k plan for some time, but saving a significant sum for a shorter-term goal is fairly new to me.

Since we have an investment horizon of 10 years and the flexibility to wait a few years longer if we need to, it makes sense to invest in stocks or mutual funds to get the greatest return. I’d rather not have to monitor my investments daily, so I started my research by focusing on mutual funds. After all, I’ve been investing successfully in my 401k plan’s mutual funds for nearly 10 years already, and it seems simple enough. Read the rest of this entry »

Browsing through old posts here on Queercents, I came across Paula’s post on how being debt-free can harm you. A skeptical commenter pointed to Dave Ramsey’s site about the “myths and truths of personal finance”. The page the commenter linked to opens with:

“Myth: Debt is a tool and should be used to help create prosperity.

Truth: Debt isn’t used by wealthy people nearly as much as we are led to believe.

Debt is dumb. Most normal people are just plain broke because they are in debt up to their eyeballs with no hope of help. If you’re in debt, then you’re a slave because you do not have the freedom to use your money to help change your family tree.” Read the rest of this entry »